The Turing Award, known as the Nobel Prize of computing, has been won by an Israeli for the second time in a row.

Professor Shafi Goldwasser of the Weizmann Institute of Science near Tel Aviv won the 2012 prize along with Prof Silvio Micali of MIT for their work creating the foundations of internet security.

He is one of the most powerful people in the world, but even Barack Obama is unlikely to be able to circumvent Pesach food restrictions when he visits Israel next week.

The US president is due to arrive in the Jewish state on Wednesday March 20, just a few days before the start of Passover.

On his visit to Israel, US President Barack Obama will speak to thousands of Israeli and Arab students rather than giving a speech to the Knesset, in order to reach out to the younger generation.

Interested citizens will be able to track President Obama's every move as he embarks on his much - anticipated Israel visit, thanks to a dedicated app.

The US leader is due to spend three days in Israel, arriving on March 20, in his first trip to the Jewish state since he was a presidential candidate in 2008.

An Israeli university is one of only two institutions in the Middle East to appear on an annual list of the top 100 universities around the world.

Hebrew University of Jerusalem was named in the 71-80 category – rankings beyond 50 are grouped in tens - of the annual Times Higher Education world reputation rankings.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak told the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) conference on Sunday that Israel would consider taking "unilateral steps" to solve ongoing tensions with the Palestinians in the absence of a "reasonable, fair, interim agreement".

US President Barack Obama will cancel his visit to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to form a government by March 16, Israel’s Channel 10 has reported.